When gymnasts start training at an early age, they are exposed to various pieces of gymnastics equipment that might seem foreign and unapproachable. All of the gymnastics equipment will seem so large to a person that stands less than four feet tall. By the end of their first year of training though, these same gymnasts will have a very different view of this equipment and feel that a part of them is missing if they miss a day practicing on it.
The size of the equipment will no longer intimidate any gymnast because they spent the better part of the year conquering their fears and mastering the techniques that are needed to use it without incurring injuries. Some gymnasts will be quite fearless in the mounts and dismounts that they learn to do and will go on to bigger and better ways to be master over the equipment that once scared them.
A gymnast is introduced first to floor beams to learn the routines that they will be expected to perform on balance beams on day. The floor beams are exact replicas of the balance beam but are made with closed cell rubber that is flexible yet hard enough to withstand the weight of the gymnast as they perform such maneuvers as...